Pilot Point, UTA hashing out deal

PILOT
POINT — The city of Pilot Point is finishing an agreement with the University
of Texas at Arlington to develop a comprehensive master plan that officials
hope will be completed by December.

According
to city officials, the city has had similar plans created in the past, but the
plan that UTA will create will be updated and tailored to Pilot Point based on
studies completed earlier this year.

At Monday
night’s City Council meeting, members approved a budget amendment to pay for
UTA’s services.

The study
will cost $12,000, plus any expenditure related to extra meetings for public
involvement, according to a city staff report.

City
Manager Tom Adams said the city has approved the agreement, but officials hope
to finalize the contract within a week or two.

The work
will be completed by UTA’s Institute of Urban Studies, which works with clients
throughout Texas to help develop solutions to urban and rural challenges like
economic development and master planning, said Brian Guenzel, director of the
institute.

The work
will be done by a team of four graduate students and two professional city
planners from the university.

The
institute was established 1967 and has assisted several Texas cities, including
Arlington, Burleson, Celina, Benbroook, Fairview, Fort Worth, Kaufman and
DeSoto.

“This is a professional service,” Guenzel said. “This is a job for us
and the students, not a class.”

In
February, a team of city planning experts from the American Institute of
Architects visited the city for about a week and identified weaknesses,
strengths and strategies the city could use to plan and manage growth.

One of
the team members recommended that the city invest in developing a master plan
because successful cities have clear visions for growth.

He added
that cities without a well-defined vision usually struggle with finding an
identity.

Mayor
Pete Hollar said developing a comprehensive plan is a priority for the city.

Guenzel
said the work conducted by UTA will be more comprehensive than the work done by
the American Institute of Architects.

He said
the institute would take the work performed by the team of planners this year
and take it a few steps further by investing more time into the city and doing
more research.

He
expects that the project will take about four months.

Guenzel
said it’s a little early to guess what challenges the city faces or to
determine the city’s strengths. He said those are things that will be developed
when the study begins.

However,
he said he expects to see common themes many cities — large and small — are
struggling to manage.

He said
cities across the state are trying to address a rapidly growing older
population and the urbanization of rural communities.

“Most of the time when a city or its residents say they want to be
urbanized, it doesn’t mean that they want to be to a big city, they just want
some of the conveniences of a bigger city,” Guenzel said. “It’s a very
interesting adaption that city planners everywhere are having to address.”

City
zoning and land uses usually are a challenge for cities looking to grow because
sometimes they are behind the times, Guenzel said.

“We’re
here to help cities update,” he said. “And we’re here to help the cities plan
as far down the road as possible.”

JOHN D. HARDEN can be reached at 940-566-6882
and via Twitter at @JDHarden.

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